There was a really good story about one of the pros in BC who broke her ankle and came back well from it. She had hardware in her ankle I was impressed by how and what she did. Wish I could remember her name

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I've broken both of my ankles (one on a motorcycle and one playing football). One was fixed with screws. Both ankles are solid and other than 75+ mpw I never have any problems.

With each fracture, I came back stronger than before and that is in spite of each time I thought that I was in my best shape ever before the fracture.

I've broken my left ankle and ruptured my left achilles.

The best advice I could give is find a really good Physio and follow their advice/instructions. Do the rehab properly and consistently and you should be fine.

RICE

just kidding - a good physio can guide your exercise progression - and usually its pretty fast depending on if your tendons were stretched as well as ligaments or just bones

calf muscle mobility stretches (soleus/gastrocs,/ peroneus muscles), ankle bone mobility (manual therapy from a PT can help this if your joints tightened up due to imobilisation), then single leg eyes closed balancing helps to reactivate your balance reflexes - followed by wobble board and theraband strengthening.

Yes, I have a good physio, actually looking very much forward working with her. How long it took you to run again?

I got my cast removed on monday, went to the pool and swam 1k, I would say I have lost about 7s/100m

Yesterday did the first easy trainer ride for 45mins, it was fine, but didnt put any power down (<200W). Started commuting this morning, and noted that bumbs on the road didnt feel that good, so might have to wait a bit longer before riding more outdoors, also more difficult to control the power.

But running will be a question, at the moment I can not do a one footed calf raise without quite a bit of pain, or actually enough that I am somehow almost unable to trigger that motion. I wonder how quickly that comes back.

So in short, any good idea how fast one can start running again after non displaced (=non-operated) ankle fracture (6 weeks in cast)

I broke my ankle in college, 2 or 3 screws and a metal plate. I wasn't doing triathlon, but did run and play a lot of ultimate. It took 3 months before I could start running again and was a good 4 to 5 months before I could play ultimate again. Lots of cutting and side to side running that was too much pressure on my ankle.
One good thing is that I've never had any problems with that ankle in over 20 years of post injury activity.
I would just dial back expectations for those first 2 events and be ready to shut it down in that June race if you start feeling it too much.

Just to keep recovery diary going. It is now 8.5 weeks since injury and 2 weeks without the cast.

My swimming is returning to normal, I would say fitness is not quite there yet and longer the interval bigger the difference to pre-injury. Now in the range of 2-3s/100m

Cycling starts to feel ok, I havent tested FTP, ankle still tends swell up if putting down power, but I can ride ok. I will attempt Paris-Roubaix Challenge in 2 weeks time (will be some 6-7h ride). This will be a true test since I've heard the roads are not that smooth :).

No running yet, but I can now do calf raises and jump on injured foot, so towards end of the week I will attempt a short jog. If this goes well, I will attempt a 70.3 in 10 weeks time. Will be interesting to see how that goes.

My girlfriend was hit by a car about 7 years ago. He turned in front of her and she wound up under it, the front wheel ran her foot over. Her foot and ankle were broken in multiple places, and it almost had to be fused. The doctor said most likely the shoe she was wearing saved her from that as it kept the fractures from being displaced. (Bonts)
She was told she would probably never run again. The day after she got the cast off (she was in it a long time) she rode her trainer. She got to riding outside pretty quickly. It took a couple years but she can also run again.
Doctors always give you the worst case scenario and tend to way underestimate the will of hard headed athletes like her.

Fortunately my injuries were not that severe.

Exactly 9 weeks after the injury, I tried a first jog, did 3.3k at 5.40min/k pace. Every step did hurt somewhat and ankle was hurting also the next day. I repeated 2 days later even slower for 30mins, but with the same result.

Bit of a bummer, I thought I could start slowly building also running, but now I think I need to give it another week or so before next attempt.

for future reference

It is now 12th week since injury, I had a first run where the ankle didnt hurt (25mins at 4.50min/km pace), so I will now start to run every second day, first easy and in few weeks more normal.

I did a FTP test today and it was normal (it now 4th week of cycling).

Swimming is also returning to normal.

7 weeks to first 70.3, run will be interesting....

Hi Markko

Good to hear a positive recovery story. Keep up the good work.

I'm still not clear about what bone you broke in your ankle. Did you require surgery for an unstable ankle? Or a plate and screws inserted? Apologies if I missed that.

I clean broke my fibula (see photo!) playing Aussie rules foortball 1st July, and damaged a ligament in my ankle to go with it. Had surgery 2 days later and now have a plate and 5 screws inserted, also required tight rope reconstructive surgery to repair diastasis.

Instructed NWB for 6 weeks, approaching 5 weeks post surgery and swelling is mostly gone and ROM is returning. Visiting a private physio for NWB strengthening exercises was best decision I made...would have totally wasted away over 5 weeks without some exercises.

How old are you? What was it like when you first started weight bearing again? How is your swelling now? Do you swell up much after intense exercise?

Thanks, Wolf

Wolf, I didn't break the fibula, but have some relevant experience for you. I broke and dislocated my ankle in April of 2003 (I was 27). I had two casts, surgery and then another cast. They put 7 screws and a plate into my ankle. They took my final cast off in June. My foot had no pressure on it for so long the bone density had dropped drastically. The first steps were very painful, but it subsided rather quickly (a few days from what I recall). I was back at it and I ran my first 5k mid-August that year.

My ROM is still somewhat lacking b/c I wasn't able to visit the PT as much as I needed to due to travel with my job. However, I still played soccer competitively for the next 12 years and I'm doing 70.3s without any issues. As for swelling, I rarely see it, but I did have a decent amount of swelling after my first marathon about 2 years ago. But, since the first year after the injury, that's really the only time I can recall that happening. For my second marathon, I went with shoes that had a bit more padding and there was no swelling afterward.

So, these injuries can be frustrating going through them, but if you follow the doc and PT, you can come through and still have an active life usually.

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